2/28 Blog Post

     The two readings for 2/28 are not unlike any narrative we’ve been discussing in class thus far. We know for a fact that in the south it was a trend for white women to accuse black men for rape, and those men losing their lives because of the false accusations. In the case of the Scottsboro boys it was very angering for me to read. This case shows us what lengths white people would go to in order retain their power. It shows us how much hate drove that group of people that tried to stack the odds against them. I just don’t understand how sane people still rallied behind the killing of these boys with countless pieces of evidence including a testimony from one of the women that showed otherwise. Every time we read cases like this, it’s hard to comprehend how a rational person is able foster such ill feelings about an entire group for no solid reason. 
    Since I’ve read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “Between the World and Me”, all of my thoughts about racial violence come back to how he described “never having control of our bodies” as black people. Here we have 9 children, who had to literally fight for their lives. When the boys were first convicted it was a one day trial to find them guilty. Even with the overwhelming evidence it took 18 years to get all of the boys free. These children went into jail as boys and weren’t released until they were grown men, all for a crime that never happened. If it wasn’t for the NAACP stepping in they might not have ever made it out. They had no power to help save their bodies. In the blink of an eye their worlds were turned completely upside down, and all they could do was sit in jail and pray for justice and freedom. 

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